Lady Alexandra's Lover (Sex and the Season #3) - Helen Hardt Page 0,47

of someone’s pocket, and the wind blew them onto our property. Just dispose of them.”

Evan readied to hand the papers back to Woods when a something caught his eye.

“Lady Prudence, this is my good friend, Mr. Joshua Peck. Josh, Lady Prudence Spofford.”

Lady Prudence Spofford. Wasn’t that the name of Alexandra’s friend? This was too similar to be a coincidence. Yes, he’d known that her “friend” never existed. However, he’d never imagined that the name had come from an underground erotic paper printed at his own printing house, no less.

The papers must belong to Alexandra. Where on earth could she have found them? And why would she bring them to London? And why would she have them in the first place? Questions flooded his mind—questions that both confounded and excited him.

Clearly, much existed that he did not know about her. Damn it all. Tonight they had to dine with the St. Clairs. And then later, the ball.

Alexandra was too much for him to handle. He would marry her off, and soon.

He folded the papers and laid them on a table next to the door. “On second thought,” he said to Woods, “I will deal with this myself.”

“I understand completely, my lord,” Woods said with a glint in his eye.

“Oh, I didn’t mean—”

Woods chuckled as he closed the door.

* * *

The St. Clair townhome was a bit bigger than the Brighton townhome, but not by much. Vladimir Brooks, the Earl of St. Clair, was a jovial gentleman short of stature but long on humor. His wife, Paula, the countess, was nearly a foot taller than he. She was reserved and quiet, but perfectly friendly. And quite pretty. The St. Clairs’ height difference was even vaster than the difference between Ally’s own parents. Ally had inherited her mother’s height, while Sophie was a bit shorter, clearly inheriting her height from their father’s side.

Marvella Brooks, the daughter of the Earl and Countess of St. Clair, was betrothed to Evan’s older brother, Jacob. She was pretty but also reserved and quiet like her mother. No doubt she would make a good Countess of Brighton, a title currently held by Ally’s own mother.

Jacob looked like an older and slightly smaller version of Evan himself. Though he was fair of face, he did not have Evan’s incredible physique. Ally had only met Jacob and Marvella once, at the wedding, and hadn’t spoken to either of them for any length of time. They were both quiet and reserved, possessing genteel natures.

Also joining them was John Brooks, the earl’s son and heir. Thankfully, he too had inherited his mother’s height. He was dark of hair and eyes, and had the jovial personality of his father.

They were all very friendly and made Ally feel welcome in their home. Oddly, at dinner, Ally was seated next to John Brooks rather than next to Evan. He was very attentive, keeping her wine glass filled and engaging her in conversation.

“I do hope you’ll save me a dance at the ball this evening, Lady Alexandra.”

“Indeed, I would be delighted.”

It wasn’t totally an untruth. Viscount Brooks was handsome—not Evan handsome, but who was?—and she might enjoy a dance with him. But she couldn’t take her eyes off of her goal. Dances with too many others, and she would lose her focus on Mr. Landon. She had to find a way to get him alone so he could compromise her. On top of that, she had to arrange for someone to see them.

“Tell me,” Brooks said, “why have you not been around this whole season?”

“My sister, Sophie, and I decided to skip the season this year. When our mother became betrothed to the Earl of Brighton, we stayed at the estate in Wiltshire to help her plan the small wedding.”

“And your sister? Why did she not accompany you to London this trip?”

“Oh, London is of not much interest to her.”

“Is she as lovely as you are?”

Alexandra caught her breath. Brooks was flirting with her. She had not expected such. But why not? He was unmarried, and so was she. And he did have a title. But Alexandra knew little about the monetary values of titles. Many of England’s aristocrats were actually penniless, as her own father had been. They looked to find wives with healthy dowries for that very reason. Thanks to her new stepfather, Ally now had a dowry.

She looked around the informal dining room. It was elegantly decorated in cherry with gilt-edged wallpaper and dark cherry crown molding. The china from which they took